The Friars Club presented Jamie deRoy & Friends, the MAC award winning variety show, on Monday evening preceded by an intimate dinner. The show was a joyful celebration to kick off the Holiday Season with a terrific roster of entertainers including Broadway and TV star from "30 Rock" Anita Gillette, Emmy Award winning Broadway sweetheart Penny Fuller, The Piano Man from Broadway’s "Movin-Out" Wade Preston, "Forbidden Broadway" favorite and YouTube sensation Christina Bianco, the World renowned classical/rock violinist Daisy Jopling, and the comedian/writer Reese Waters.

Friar Jamie deRoy began the evening with a witty reminder that she was the 8th woman to be admitted into the Friars Club in 1988, and the New York Times did an article on each of the new women members, but stopped at seven leaving her out. This set up her first song, a witty "What Did I Come in Here For," a funny reminder how with time our memories aren’t as sharp as they once were.

Her first guest was the darling Christina Bianco, a Drama Desk nominee for her marvelous performance in Forbidden Broadway. A YouTube sensation with 8 million hits, Christina is just back from London where she performed her new show DIVA Moments, Christina displayed her powerful voice with a song from that show that included amongst others impersonations of Judy Garland, Julie Andrews, Bernadette Peters, and Patti LuPone.

The classical/rock violinist Daisy Jopling made a wild entrance in the dark to the strains of Vivaldi, just before one of "New York Magazine‘s" top 10 comics to watch took the stage, a very droll Reese Waters.

 

 

 

Jamie told stories about being obsessed with musical theater and especially "West Side Story" did a goofy parody of "Tonight" from the musical. Then Wade Preston The Piano Man from Broadway held court for almost 20 minutes doing classic incomparable Billy Joel tunes. And he sounds uncannily like the man himself and Wade is a dynamite piano player as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The finale of the evening was by those gorgeous dames that are just becoming even better with age, Penny Fuller and Anita Gillette. The two will debut a new show "Sin Sisters" written for them by Barry Kleinbort at 54 Below on March 30th and April 1. After dazzling us with their individual performances, they charmed us with the new lyrics by Barry to Cole Porter’s "You’re the Top," and their loving chemistry just sparkled into the night.

What a lovely send off into the Holiday Season. Thank you Jamie deRoy & Friends. PC

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